The Liberals will not be giving out any medals to honour Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The Queen this June becomes the world’s longest-reigning monarch of the past 300 years..“There are no plans for a platinum jubilee medal for this year’s celebration,” said Sarah-Anne LaCombe, spokeswoman for the Heritage Department..Canadians were free to commemorate the jubilee in their own way, she added..“The Government of Canada encourages Canadians to participate in jubilee activities throughout this celebratory year to honour Her Majesty’s reign and celebrate Canadian achievements over the past seven decades,” said LaCombe..The Queen on June 13 will eclipse Thailand’s King Rama IX as the second-longest reigning monarch in history at 70 years and 127 days. The all-time longevity record is held by France’s “Sun King” of the 18th century, according to the Guinness Book Of World Records. King Louis XIV ruled France from boyhood for 72 years..Previous Liberal and Conservative cabinets did issue medals commemorating milestones in the Queen’s reign. Cabinet issued 60,000 diamond jubilee medals in 2012 and 45,000 gold jubilee medals in 2002. Other commemorative medals were issued by federal agencies for King George VI’s 1937 coronation and King George V’s 1935 jubilee..Celebrations of Confederation have been haphazard. A total 20,000 centennial medals were issued on the 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967 and 42,000 medals on the 125th anniversary. None were issued for Canada 150, prompting the Senate to budget $250,000 to commission its own medals..“It is inexplicable,” Senator David Wells (Nfld. & Labrador), co-chair of a medal advisory group, said at the time..“I can only speculate that decision was made because the previous Conservative government was in favour of it. This is not a partisan initiative.”.“To not have this kind of celebration, a commemorative medal to honour our unsung heroes, was disappointing. I heard a lot of comment from Canadians on this. People were quite surprised when they learned the government was not going to do anything.”.“This is a non-partisan decision. This is for those unsung heroes, those Canadians who work hard every day to make Canada what it is.”
